The UK State Pension age is in the middle of a phased rise from 66 to 67, a change that began affecting people earlier this year and continues month by month through to 2028. With so many people currently searching to check exactly when it applies to them, here's a factual breakdown of the timetable, who it affects, and where to check your own date.
What's changing, and why now
Under the Pensions Act 2014, the State Pension age is rising from 66 to 67 for everyone, regardless of gender, with the transition running between 6 April 2026 and 5 April 2028. Rather than everyone switching over on a single fixed date, the increase is phased in gradually by date of birth: each person's new State Pension age is calculated as "66 years plus a specified number of months," based on exactly when they were born.
The first people affected by this stage of the change were born on 6 April 1960, who reached their revised State Pension age of 66 years and 1 month on 6 May 2026. From there, the qualifying age creeps up by roughly one month for each successive month of birth, until it reaches a flat age of 67 for anyone born on or after 6 March 1961.
The birth-date timetable
According to the official GOV.UK State Pension age timetable, based on the Pensions Act 2014:
| Date of birth | State Pension age reached |
| 6 April 1960 – 5 May 1960 | 66 years and 1 month |
| 6 May 1960 – 5 June 1960 | 66 years and 2 months |
| 6 June 1960 – 5 July 1960 | 66 years and 3 months |
| 6 July 1960 – 5 August 1960 | 66 years and 4 months |
| 6 August 1960 – 5 September 1960 | 66 years and 5 months |
| 6 September 1960 – 5 October 1960 | 66 years and 6 months |
| 6 October 1960 – 5 November 1960 | 66 years and 7 months |
| 6 November 1960 – 5 December 1960 | 66 years and 8 months |
| 6 December 1960 – 5 January 1961 | 66 years and 9 months |
| 6 January 1961 – 5 February 1961 | 66 years and 10 months |
| 6 February 1961 – 5 March 1961 | 66 years and 11 months |
| On or after 6 March 1961 | 67 years |
Anyone born before 6 April 1960 keeps the current State Pension age of 66 and is unaffected by this change. Anyone born on or after 6 March 1961 has a flat State Pension age of 67, and that remains the case for everyone born through to 5 April 1977.
Why the search interest right now
Because the increase is tied to specific dates of birth rather than a single cut-off, working out an individual's own State Pension age isn't always straightforward from headlines alone — two people born only a few weeks apart can end up with pension ages months apart. That's very likely behind the recent spike in searches: as more birth-date cohorts move through the transition this year, more people are prompted to check precisely where they personally fall on the timetable.
What comes after 67
A further rise, from 67 to 68, is currently legislated to take place between 2044 and 2046, affecting people born on or after 6 April 1977. That timetable isn't fixed in stone, however. The Pensions Act 2014 requires the government to review the State Pension age at least once every six years based on life expectancy and other data, and an independent review led by John Cridland in 2017 recommended bringing the rise to 68 forward to 2037–2039. A further review, published in March 2023, confirmed the existing 66-to-67 timetable but chose not to bring forward the rise to 68 at that time.
The government launched a further review in July 2025 to reassess the timetable again, and any recommendations from that process are expected to be considered later in the 2020s. Any change to the legislated timetable would need to be approved by Parliament before it became law, so nothing beyond the current 66-to-67 transition is confirmed at this stage.
How to check your own State Pension age
The most reliable way to confirm an individual State Pension age is the official GOV.UK "Check your State Pension age" tool, which only requires a date of birth and sex to generate a personalised result, including the associated Pension Credit qualifying age and free bus pass eligibility date. The tool notes that results reflect current legislation and could change if the law is amended in future.